This book is a comparative study which covers a number of major jurisdictions, viz., Australia, Belgium, Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and the USA. A separate chapter deals with developments in the context of the European Union. The study is based on a questionnaire of the IBA Section on Business Law Subcommittee on the Structure and Ethics of Business Law. Part one of each country report covers the basic rules applying to the domestic (...) legal profession, such as the method of qualifying as a lawyer, the extent to which legal services are reserved to lawyers, and the ethical rules which apply to matters such as advertising, fees, correspondence, etc. The second part sets out what rules the jurisdiction in question imposes on its own lawyers when they are involved outside the jurisdiction. The third part deals with the rules which apply to a foreign lawyer practising within the jurisdiction. The last part deals with the various kinds of international associations to which lawyers may be party, such as alliances, office-sharing and multi-national and multi-disciplinary partnerships. In a final chapter the editor draws some conclusions on the current situation and on where international practice is heading. A number of useful appendices have been added, which set out the most important texts including the IBA International Code of Ethics. (shrink)

The manuscript of Andocides' speechOn the Mysteriescontains a series of documentary inserts culminating in the decrees of Patroclides, Tisamenus and Demophantus. These decrees seem to fit their historical context and they are presented at length, with at least a few of the formalities that we would expect to find in the official record. Modern commentators have relied upon them as substantially genuine, allowing for the usual errors in transmission, but now their authenticity is contested. A close reading by Mirko Canevaro (...) and Edward Harris rejects all three of these documents as products of feckless ‘forgery’. Alan Sommerstein responded with a strong defence of Demophantus' decree, and Mogens Hansen has recently defended Patroclides' decree and Tisamenus' as well. On many points the defenders are persuasive, but the sceptics make a good case, and so it seems reasonable to reconsider how these documents took shape. (shrink)

In this paper I have attempted to open a window on an African approach to Bioethics — that of the Nso' of the Bamenda Highlands of Kamerun — from the vantage position of someone who has familiarity with both African and Western cultures. Because of its scientific‐cum‐technological sophistication and its proselytising character, Western culture, as well as Western systems of thought and practice, have greatly affected and influenced other cultures, particularly African culture. But Western culture, systems of thought and practice, (...) have been highly impervious and immune to influences from other cultures, philosophies, systems of thought and practice, even where these might have been salutary and enriching to Western culture and systems. What I have here termed Nso' eco‐bio‐cummunitarianism clearly indicates a viable alternative world‐view within which some of the bioethical perplexities and controversies of today might be more satisfactorily resolved than within a Western framework. I have further attempted to show, by way of example, how within such a world‐view, abortion and suicide, for instance, would be disapproved of while euthanasia, in its etymological purity, is approved of. (shrink)

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In a feature article in the Journal of Medical Ethics entitled ‘Where is knowledge from the global South? An account of epistemic justice for a global bioethics’,1 Pratt and de Vries give a highly persuasive account of global injustices within global bioethics especially health ethics against the global South that every bioethicist needs to read and to reflect on. The opening three sentences of the abstract of this account capture the ethical essence of the whole article. > The silencing of (...) the epistemologies, theories, principles, values, concepts and experiences of the global South, constitutes a particularly egregious epistemic injustice in bioethics. Our shared responsibility to rectify that injustice should be at the top of the ethics agenda. That it is not, or only is in part, is deeply problematic, and endangers the credibility of the entire field.1 It is quite significant that both authors of this article are scholars of the global North with research interest in the global South; so where are the scholars of the global South, the putative conceptualisers and creators of global South knowledge who should be complaining about the injustice in question? The answer to this question is part and parcel of the question itself that has been so boldly raised by Pratt and de Vries. They go on to describe in some detail the general conditions and requirements of epistemic justice for global health ethics and bioethics including even a consideration …. (shrink)

The philosophy of Bruno Latour has given us one of the most important statements on the part played by technology in the ordering of the human collective. Typically presented as a radical departure from mainstream social thought, Latour is not without his intellectual creditors: Michel Serres and, through him, René Girard. By tracing this development, we are led to understand better the relationship of Latour’s work, and Actor-Network Theory more generally, to traditional sociological concerns. By doing so we can also (...) hope to understand better the role that objects play in structuring society. (shrink)

Using literature, this article argues that Karl Barth's (1886 –1968 CE) concept of an "assumed fall" could be helpful if applied to the cosmos and humanity. Barth's conception of the created order is that it is perfect exactly the way it is, natural disasters included. Further, the fall did not affect the creation. Barth does however argue for fallen humanity. Nevertheless, the fall is assumed in the Election of Jesus Christ. There was never a time in which humans did not (...) need a Savior. Barth, therefore, places a separation between humanity and the created order. A close reading of Romans 8 and a look at Christian interpretative tradition, argue for an inseparability between humankind and the cosmos. In other words, fallen humans live in a fallen cosmos, and redeemed humans will live in a redeemed universe. If Barth's concept of the assumed fall of humanity could be applied to the cosmos as well, then the concept could fit well within the traditional reading of Romans 8 and could be beneficial for scientific/theological engagement. (shrink)

When it is seen that those who speak for the new society also establish it wherever they are, then the ranks of oppression and inequity break and straggle; when it is seen that those who speak for the new society are less regardful of the comfort and rights of others than are the best in the old society, then the ranks of oppression and inequity re-aline [sic] and advance anew to battle. He that cries against externally-enforced order carries complete conviction (...) only when he ceases to create disorder by discourtesy, tumult, and greater invasions. I can have little faith in the professed love of liberty of one who denies to me the opportunity to hear what he or she does not care to hear, just as I can have little faith in the professions of the Censor who denies to me the opportunity to read what he does not care to read. “We learn to do by doing.”. (shrink)

Of course, the rationale of PME is so different from what has been taught in “orthodox” statistics courses for fifty years, that it causes conceptual hangups for many with conventional training. But beginning students have no difficulty with it, for it is just a mathematical model of the natural, common sense way in which anybody does conduct his inferences in problems of everyday life.The difficulties that seem so prominent in the literature today are, therefore, only transient phenomena that will disappear (...) automatically in time. Indeed, this revolution in our attitude toward inference is already an accomplished fact among those concerned with a few specialized applications; with a little familarity in its use its advantages are apparent and it no longer seems strange. It is the idea that inference was once thought to be tied to frequencies in random experiments, that will seem strange to future generations. (shrink)

Ray Lankester, in his book Nature and Man, deals with the states of man and nature. In this book, he shows the similarities between them and explains why their union was so important for the whole human race. When discussing Darwinism, he questions its epistemological foundations and criticizes the stage-stage theory of evolution. Ray Lankester concludes by giving us a glimpse into the future of humanity and our planet: "It seems to me that this marvelous endowment would be all turned (...) to good account if we did not allow ourselves to be easily led astray by ideas of a possible future...we should rather insist on increasing our knowledge within due limits, anxious not so much to extend its scope as to increase our capacity for dealing with problems as they arise". (shrink)

Serious work in history of philosophy requires doing something very difficult: conducting a hypothetical dialogue with dead philosophers. Is it worth devoting to it the time and energy required to do it well? Yes. Quite apart from the intrinsic interest of understanding the past, making progress toward solving philosophical problems requires a good grasp of the range of possible solutions to those problems and of the arguments which motivate alternative positions, a grasp we can only have if we understand well (...) philosophy's past. Philosophers who concentrate too much on the present are apt to assume too simple a view of alternative theories and of important philosophical arguments. Ryle and Austin offer instructive examples of how it is possible to go wrong by ignoring or misrepresenting historical figures. (shrink)

Increasing awareness of the importance of the biodiversity of the whole global biosphere has led to further awareness that the problems which arise in connection with preservation and exploitation of our planet’s biodiversity are best tackled from a global perspective. The ‘Biodiversity Convention’ and the ‘Human Genome Project’ are some of the concrete attempts at such globalisation. But, while these efforts are certainly very good at the intentional level and on paper, there is, at the practical level of implementation, the (...) danger that globalisation may simply translate into westernisation, given the Western world’s dominance and will to dominate the rest of the globe. How is ‘global bioethics’ to be possible in a world inhabited by different cultural groups whose material situation, powers, ideas, experiences and attitudes differ rather markedly and who are not, in any case, equally represented in globalisation efforts and fora? One index of the pertinence of this question is that talk about biodiversity, biotechnology, biotrade etc. is being increasingly matched by talk about biopiracy, biorade, biocolonialism etc. In this paper, I attempt to explore and develop these very general concerns. (shrink)

This paper critiques the reduction of the significance of human moral action to mere social construction and suggests two perspectives that resist this theoretical maneuver. It is argued that any school of thought within psychology that cannot provide an adequate account of ethics and moral action ultimately fails as a psychology. This paper examines the social constructionist claims of Kenneth Gergen and others, arguing that, because it undermines the possibility of a meaningful morality by ushering in a form of nihilism, (...) social constructionism fails as an adequate school of thought for psychology. By way of an alternative capable of providing a more adequate account of moral action in psychology, this paper explores the contributions of William James and Emmanuel Levinas. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

ABSTRACT One of the most important as well as most awesome achievements of modern biotechnology is the possibility of cloning human embryonic stem cells, if not human beings themselves. The possible revolutionary role of such stem cells in curative, preventive and enhancement medicine has been voiced and chorused around the globe. However, the question of the moral status of embryonic stem cells has not been clearly and unequivocally answered. Taking inspiration from the African adage that ‘the hand that reaches beneath (...) the incubating hen is not guiltless’, I attempt answering this question, from the background of traditional African moral sensibility and sensitivity. I reach the following conclusions. Stem cells in themselves do not have human status and therefore lack moral worth/value. Embryos do have human status and a morally significant line cannot be drawn between human embryos and other human beings. What is morally at stake in stem cell research is therefore the question of the source of derivation or generation of the cells, not of the cells as such. (shrink)

Cameroon is a Central African country lying at latitude 6°N and longitude 12°E. The country has a surface area of circa 475,442 square kilometers, and is bordered by several other African countries: Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. With a population of nearly 20 million inhabitants, Cameroon is a very diverse country, geographically, culturally, and linguistically.

International regulations governing medical research, healthcare and medical practice, are, obviously, meant to be guidelines and not detailed procedural rules of thumb that can be applied unreflectively without any danger of doing moral wrong. Moreover, such regulations are meant to apply internationally, and no set of straight‐jacketed rules of thumb can conceivably apply to all societies and communities of the world, extremely diverse and differently situated as they are. The mark of a good international guideline or regulation, in my view, (...) is that it should provide a clear principle of action that applies equally to all global communities and societies without seeking to foist the particular or momentary moral dilemmas, quandaries, obsessions and preoccupations of some on all.In this paper, I propose to argue that, because moral obligations are obligations only from the point of view of a particular moral agent, we should avoid making the peculiar problems of any particular moral agent the obsessive concern of all moral agents, and that we need, in particular, to make appropriate distinctions between the ethics of developed world research in the developing world, collaborative or cooperative research between the developed and developing worlds, developed world research in the developed world and developing world research in the developing world. A consequence of looking at things this way is that, while it should be clear that there are ethical concerns, imperatives and obligations at all levels, different standards may and, in fact, cannot but be applied in different contexts at different levels, without resorting to the use of double standards, which can never be morally justified. Finally, I venture to propose a formula for a solemn pledge of moral integrity and noble intent, from the perspective of the agent, that is to say, the investigator, sponsor and funder of any research, to complement and balance the widely accepted informed consent requirement, from the perspective of the patient, the subject of any biomedical research. (shrink)

If you were trained as a philosopher and were suddenly bereft of speech, writing and reading, how would you feel? Would you feel a sensation of death, or Nirvana, or unconscious or conscious loss of control? Would you feel scientifically objective, or full of Aristotelian wonder? Would you think you were having a supernatural experience?

The main objective of the study was to survey health-care practitioners' (HCPs) perception of health-care practices that are of medical–ethical importance in Hong Kong public hospitals, and to identify the moral issues that concern them most. A total of 2718 doctors, nurses, allied health and administrative workers from 14 hospitals participated. HCPs considered that communication/conflict between patients/families and HCPs was the most important issue, followed by issues concerning patients' rights and values. The ‘ethics climate’ in Hong Kong public hospitals was (...) found to be largely determined by two negative factors (inadequate communication and conflict issues) and two positive factors (high regard for patients' rights and the decline in family interference). Chinese cultural conventions were inferred to exert strong influence on the behaviours of HCPs and patients/families. Significant differences in perceptions between different categories of HCPs were also detected. The study was the first of its kind ever done in Hong Kong and signalled the need for institutional reorganization and medical–ethical education. (shrink)